Women’s program seeking sewing materials

Contributions of sewing materials are needed for the Women’s Re-entry Center in Bangor, reports volunteer Liane Giambalvo of Hampden.

Giambalvo wrote that the Center is “a residential program for 38 women” who are making the transition out of the Windham Center in Windham and who “are ready to look for employment or go back to school.”

According to a previous Bangor Daily News report, the re-entry center is a program of the Maine Department of Corrections, operated through a contract with Volunteers of America Northern New England.

Program residents must have served at least 120 days of their sentence and have approximately one year left to serve. Women’s Re-entry Center residents were sentenced for nonviolent crimes.

Part of that transition at the Women’s Re-entry Center, Giambalvo said, includes the Quilt and Needlearts program that “helps them develop skills and interests that keep them connected with their communities, in a positive way,” Giambalvo continued.

“Many of them have never sewn before, and it is a pleasure to watch the enthusiasm and creativity they put into the projects.”

Giambalvo said her group is “hoping to start cross-stitch and other needlework crafts, and are in need of supplies” including cross-stitch cloth, embroidery floss, crewel yarn and needles.” They also need fabric.

If you have materials to donate, call Giambalvo at 862-3356 for items to be picked up, or call the center at 561-5027 if you can drop off your donations.

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The Rev. Grace Bartlett, pastor of Brewer First Congregational Church, and members of the East of the Penobscot Ministerial Association, invite you to join them “on the eve of an historic inauguration,” as they hold a service of remembrance for the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

The Rev. Bartlett wrote the service. The vigil begins at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 19, at Brewer First Congregational Church, 35 Church St.

The event will feature “readings, singing and a time to light candles of hope and commitment,” she said.

Everyone is welcome to participate, and more information may be obtained by calling 989-7350.

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Jing Zhang, president of the Bangor Chinese School, reports it will hold — and Lee Academy will sponsor — the 2009 Chinese New Year Celebration from 4 to 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 24, at the Husson University Student Center in Bangor.